It's been weeks since I saw it, but I thought the surprise at the beginning was pretty good (and, correspondingly, the ending of the previous episode was a superb cliffhanger). But then most of the season finale went off on a red herring, whose apparent only point was to set up a reason for the lab to get torn apart. And then there was the nearly out-of-the-blue ending surprise, also quite a good shocker, but with a whole lot of "what for?" feeling attached. I wonder what (or really who) they're trying to set up for next season. Arrow's season finale was also a of the "sudden massive change!" type.

Incidentally, I never commented on Gotham's season finale, but I did like it. Or rather, I liked the ending. Much of the episode, and the episodes immediately preceding it, seemed to be characters making poor choices and ending up in crappy situations (e.g., one woman said something that was obviously a bad idea, and she got decapitated for it) that didn't seem to have anything to do with what was happening to other characters. But, when it all wrapped up, it came out very neatly done, with the stage well set for next season.

Incidentally, The Flash's season finale had a blatant Doctor Who reference, "Reverse the polarity of the neutron flow," a line that's been in Who ever since the Third Doctor.

Best place to start might be the 1963/11/23 episode "An Unearthly Child." :P Seasons 5 through 9, huh? Well, see, that corresponds to the Eleventh and Twelfth (current) Doctors, and from the 2005 revival Who (2005-2017, inclusive, totals 10 seasons + 3 specials-only years), all I have on disc so far are the Ninth and Tenth Doctors, seasons 1 through 4.

That being said, I do have season 5 episode 1 (the Eleventh Doctor's first episode) as a PS Store download, and it's a good starting adventure. It's particularly good for captivating a younger audience--it may be a bit too enthusiastic for a jaded audience. Now, the Twelfth Doctor's great for a jaded audience, given how sarcastic and grumpy he often is, but his first episode (season 8 episode 1) wasn't very engaging, if I recall correctly. And whatever you do, skip his "Kill the Moon" episode, which is full of holes that defy common sense (e.g., you can see how many people hundreds of thousands of kilometers away in total darkness have their lights off?).

Season 9 episode 11 is pretty incredible, with quite possibly one of the greatest plot surprises in all of science fiction, but with no context, it's probably too confusing to recommend.

Season 10 just finished, but I haven't seen any of it. It's Peter Capaldi's final season as the Doctor, so I definitely do want to see it, but my watching of new Who is restricted to mooching BBC America from a relative's cable subscription.

What the . . . ? You think Voyager is better than Enterprise? I just felt our affinity stat drop precipitously. So much for the good ending.

To me the show really starts with season 7 and Spearhead from Space.

Someday, I'd like to have "Spearhead from Space" on Blu-ray. It bears mentioning again that, as the only classic Who story that was shot completely on film, with no videotape portions, it is the only one for which high-definition remastering could make any real difference. It's not that the Blu-ray is expensive, but it's always being backburnered in favor of something else. Like food, sometimes.

This weeks episode or Orville was actually pretty good. They sort of took the plot from an episode of TAS, but still, much improved over the pilot. I still think it would be a better show without the captain and 1st officer bickering about their failed marriage. That's the only real drawback to the show

That and the doctor on the ship looks exactly like the host of the old Where is Carmen San Diego show? I keep expecting a group of acappella singers to jump out whenever she is on camera

Sounds like they took after the reboot ST films' style, which is unfortunate. How are you seeing the show, anyway? I thought it was a CBS paid service exclusive.

Speaking of ST, I played the end of Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse Episode 3 - "They Stole Max's Brain!" yesterday, and it had Sam fighting a one-on-one gladiatorial battle--complete with music inspired by ST:TOS "Amok Time." :) Once his opponent is downed, Sam takes to punching him repeatedly, shouting, "I have had enough of you!", a quote from STIII:TSFS when Kirk is finishing off Christopher Lloyd Kruge.